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Mobile is reinventing how people work by moving previously complex tasks to smaller portable devices. This work process reinvention is one of my bets on where to place your development resources in the next few years. Lets review the facts illustrating the changes we’ve seen recently. Read More →

Here at The Hired Guns, we’ve got a boatload of interesting people doing interesting things. We like to profile them now and again because we think they’re neat. And because this is the Internet, we’re pretty much required to have something about cats. Lucky for us, there’s Mary Ann Vanterpool. A few years back, Mary Ann — a long-time event coordinator for New York’s storied Copacabana nightclub — decided that the time had come for a drastic career change. She left event management behind and now owns and operates Extraordinary Cat Sitter, the premier in-home cat care service in Manhattan’s Upper West side. Sure, it’s not exactly a digital career, but Mary Ann knows a lot about following your passion and building a successful business. And cats.

Before you became a cat sitter, you had a long career in event management. Did you start there?
Almost, but not quite. I started my professional life as a secretary at Lehman Brothers. It was a very different workplace back then. If you were a secretary, you essentially floated from boss to boss until someone decided they liked you. I worked for the three stock brokers there before I eventually landed with the vice president of a certain cosmetics company. That turned out to be a real Devil Wears Prada situation. I didn’t last long there. Read More →

Check out Fast Company’s 12 Best Business Books of 2012. How many have you read? via Fast Company

Put your jet-pack dreams on hold, kids. The future might not be as cool as you think. via Salon

IBM Smarter Commerce notes that social media accounted for less than 1% of sales and traffic on Black Friday. Is that proof that Social isn’t an effective driver of sales? (Go ahead and try to guess our opinion on that. We dare you.) via Social Media Today

Feeling inadequate about your Klout score? Or maybe a little jealous of that friend from college who’s always posting jet-setting pics on Facebook? If not, Richard Branson just gave us 1 million reasons to feel a little behind on this whole social network thing. via Mashable

Footfall123, the Social marketing platform that bills itself as “the loyalty platform for the high street” just landed $1.7£ ($2.7M US) in Series A funding from backers including notables like Samos and Venrex. via TechCrunch

What can Big Macs tell us about the state of economies worldwide? You might be surprised. via TheStreet

Keep this list handy while doing your holiday shopping to help you decode all that cryptic marketing double-speak. via Inc.

Over the last several months, the conversation at The Hired Guns HQ has revolved around the feeling that the economy is finally rebounding. We’re getting more good news by the day. From improved housing stats to the Fed announcing in its most recent Beige Book that — wait for it — there are modest hiring shortages, particularly in high tech.

After a recession like the one we’ve just experienced, it’s like crawling out of a mineshaft after five years to find yourself staring at the sun: can a recovery really be true? While I am an optimist, I am also inherently skeptical and feel the need for constant gut checks. One thing I do is constantly talk to real people — especially job seekers — about how they’re feeling about the economy. Perhaps my best barometer for what’s in the air, as unscientific as it is, is what I call “The Taxi Cab Index.” Read More →

Two years ago, I began hearing the phrase “It isn’t sustainable” over and over from senior executives. They were talking about the everyday demands at work.

The day of reckoning seems to have arrived. During the past month alone, no less than a half dozen senior executives have told me that fatigue, exhaustion and even burnout are the biggest issues they’re facing both for themselves and among their troops.

Sustainable capacity — meaning sufficient fuel in the tank — is what makes it possible to bring one’s skill and talent to life. Not even the most talented and motivated employees can run on empty. Read More →

That’s an old adage by Frederick W. Taylor, the original management guru. Seems like common sense, doesn’t it? And yet, so many people hate their jobs.

So why is that?

Well, think about your hobbies. You know, the things you do for fun. Whatever it is, whether it’s playing a sport, a musical instrument, practicing a craft, or whatever, you probably do it for at least one of the following two reasons: you’re good at it and/or you enjoy it. Otherwise, why do it? Read More →

Welcome back to the land of the living, friends. It’s time to shake off the tryptophan hangover and return to world of digital work. Here are a few items to help you ease the transition from the couch to the office:

About The Hired Guns

We’ve built The Hired Guns to help the digital creative class expand their potential far beyond the 9-to-5, bringing their expertise to companies in unexpected and exciting ways and guiding their careers through transitions from freelance gigs to fulltime jobs and back again.

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This blog is devoted to developing a point of view around the Future of Work through the lens of the digital creative class. It offers some of the best career writing out there to help you get ahead as well as some brand new bloggers livin' the dream and tellin' it like it is. We encourage you to use the comments to drive conversations to the next level, bounce ideas off our bloggers, challenge them, and engage in dialogue with your fellow readers.